alternatehistory.com

With this thread, I plan to solicit several speculations about martial arts trends if certain historical events had gone another way. Note that I don't plan to make direct changes to prominent Twentieth Century martial arts personages, so Burce Lee, Kano Jiguro, In Hyuh Suk, Ed Parker, and Don Inosanto will remain (hopefully mostly) as we know them. Each post will be a different what if, and I wish to ask the moderators whether a pure sleeper POD made in the Eleventh or early Twelth Century A.D. belongs in Before 1900, After 1900, or Alien Space Bats.

With that matter out of the way, on to the first What-if:

From 1964 to 1973, a good deal of American manpower was filtered into the Vietnam War, and much R&R and convalence from injury happened for American G.I.s in Thailand. This, in the main, was what brought America into contact with Thai Cuisine, and certain Thai martial arts (most famously Muy Thai, also called Thai Kickboxing), and made it a tourist target for other, less savory reasons I won't get into here.

Among other things, highly inferior versions of Thai melee weapons, most especially the dha, dhaab, or darb (the national style of sword) were sold to these G.I.s and other tourists as trinkets. But until the late 1990s-2000s, Krabi Krabong, the martial art specializing in their use, languished outside the country in utter obscurity.

How would it effect the martial arts community, and related arts and media if some American soldier, sailor, marine, or pilot on leave in Bangkok were to see a dha and casually ask a theoretical stall or shop keeper how those odd swords on the shelf/wall are used, and becomes fascinated at the answer?
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